Rahu, Ketu & Spirituality

Vinay Garg

Western view of Rahu/Ketu : It is well known in Western Astrology that the North Node of the Moon (Rahu) represents a spiritual target, soul’s mission to accomplish in this life. It is the direction of evolution. It is therefore spiritual.

The South Node of the Moon (Ketu), on the other hand represents an accumulation of experiences from past lives, a charted territory that we are familiar with and find it attractive and there is the tendency of sticking to it and refusing the evolution through new experiences and challenges. It is therefore considered materialistic.

Vedic Astrology on Rahu & Ketu : The Vedic Astrology has very different view on things: it considers as materialistic the North Node (Rahu) which is mitologically associated with the dragon’s huge head, breathing fire through its nostrils, and using its wide, open mouth to eat voraciously, gobble and control. Disconnected from the rest of its body, the dragon’s head, or North Node, obviously has no mechanism for feeling (heart), digesting (stomach), or eliminating (colon), thus holding on to everything as tightly as it can. With a propensity for devouring everything in sight, Rahu is materialistic, greedy, potentially ruthless, controlling, and manipulative.

On the other hand, the South Node (Ketu) is highly inspiring and creative, but it can be equally destructive and obliterating. As the dragon’s tail without the head, the South Node desires total freedom, and yet there is no conscience, nor is there any logic or reasoning power. At its best, it is highly instinctual, sensual, creative and spiritual.

The necessary reconciliation for Rahu & Ketu : Can these two different views be conciliated ? In reaching this ideal, it is important to remind the two philosophic and religious backgrounds that generated these differences in understanding the same astrological elements: the Western civilization, under the influence of the Christianity consideres as spiritual the higher impulses of a person, and in its aspiration to the Divinity rejects the sexuality or the material prosperity. That’s why the chastity is so highly valued by the priests and monks, that’s why the angels are represented always as children without a defined sex. On the other hand, the Oriental world, valued as spiritual the family, the sexual instincts considering them as a path to the higher states of counsciousness and ultimately to the Divinity. Think of the refined and complicated sexual rituals and techniques in Tantra (India) or Tao (China), think of the numerous energetic and spiritual techniques develloped for instance in China or Japan (Tai Chi, the martial arts).

It is time to holistically understand this situation, and to harmoniously mix the two philosophies in astrology as well, as it was already done in other fields or sciences.

It is time accept ourselves as spiritual beings with both instincts Ketu and intentions Rahu, to accept that the Rahu Ketu can be equally spiritualising and helpful for an overall evolution of our being.

It is time to practice both a spiritual sexuality and to learn to trust our higher instincts and intuition, while still being focused on realising spiritual or material objectives, transforming the world and the self.

This is the true spirit. We should consider as spiritual both Rahu and Ketu each one with its own wonderful features.

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